An Internal War
by SilverMuse
Summary: With every good person, there is an evil to which they couldn't comprehend. With the fall of Amn and the run of a once proud nation, Aramis is faced once again with his evil, to fight his demons and to refute his lineage as a Child of Bhaal.


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Disclaimer: I don't own any of this, it all belongs to the masterminds at Black Isle. If I ever come face to face with the man who created Baldur's Gate, I will gladly shake his creative hand. Until such time as the world stops and I have enough money to own Black Isle, the wonder of Baldur's Gate and all it's sub-plots, plot, quests and characters will remain the sole property if it's producers and creators.

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Author Notes: I know, no one likes the author notes. They usually rant and rave about how bad their days been and how hard it's been to actually sit down and write on the computer, let alone get something out that's half decent. All the author notes I hate have text message bits in...lol. Anyway, I digress. This story, An Internal War, has been sitting on my computer folder for the best part of three months. I'm not truly satisfied that I've put my all into creating it, but I don't think there's much more I can do with it. I'm beginning to write up the next chapter and with the rate that I'm going at now, it should be up within the next week or so. I won't take as long as usual, promise. 

Also, I'm advertising for a new beta reader. Someone who really likes Baldur's Gate 2 and hopefully someone who has the Tashia NPC Romance Mod (property of jcompton) on their PC's, as that is the next story I'm writing. If anyone does want to be my beta, I'd really appreciate some feedback. Could you email me at blades_of_roses@yahoo.co.uk_? _

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~) An Internal War (~

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Prologue: The Battle Has Begun

Darkness had rained over him for the past few nights now. He couldn't find anything to satisfy the everlasting hunger buried deep within. He knew it was deep within because he couldn't scratch it out. His flesh was covered in grazes, cuts, and gashes…the remnants of a viscous attack from a pair of feral claws. He shook his head solemnly, reminding himself that he was a doomed animal if he stayed here. He was trapped within a cage of cages, a prisoner of his own mind, covered in the gentle reminder of what he was. 

A monster. 

The Slayer. 

In front of him lay a plate still holding his previous night's meal. Thickly sliced cabbage, boiled of all its nutrients, left to whiten and grow crisp in the dungeon's darkness. He hadn't wanted to eat the foul cabbage; it contained something vaguely familiar. A sniff and he could tell what it was. Just one sniff. He found himself fascinating to say the least; his bodily functions changed each day. His senses were overwhelmed with different smells, sounds, visions, thoughts, tastes in his own wet mouth, salivating on the thought of a juicy boar served up in front of him instead of the horrid white cabbage. 

His vision blurred and he tried to reach out to grab the metal bars, trying to shake himself back into cold reality, the cold reality that lay waiting for him whenever he awoke from precious dreams. His hands slipped and crashed into the boiled cabbage, smearing the water all over the floor. His eyes were failing, his head was spinning and his hands were going out of focus when he brought them up to his face. His brain was collapsing; he could feel it withering away inside his skull, chanting a deathly chant before it's final moments. 

A laugh escaped his mouth, a single laugh. A laugh that meant more than words, a laugh that chilled him to the very bone and a laugh that stirred him from inside, instilled excitement into him even when he could no longer see through his fragile eyes. He collapsed onto the wet floor of his cage and his lips curled into a grin, a laughable grin. The laugh, the single laughed echoed around the forgotten dungeon and for once in his lifetime, Aramis was truly frightened of what was to come, if he ever saw what was to come. His future lay as ruined as the boiled cabbage rotting on the wet floor. 

From across Faerun, in a run down inn at the very edge of the border, the party lay there in waiting for a runner to return from Amn. Aerie was shuffling in her chair, almost on the brink of tears. Her heart clenched when she thought of him lying in a pool of his own blood, crying out into the darkness above. She shut her eyes tightly, trying to block out the mental images of her love as he died slowly, writhing in pain on some monsters torture table. There was one thing for certain that ran clear within her mind. She couldn't lose him now.

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The sound of a distant rumbling had awoken him first. His eyes opened and tried to adjust to the streaming light from a lantern hidden somewhere in the dark dungeon. He tried in vain the stand up but he couldn't move. His limbs were frozen in place, his hands were stuck to his sides and his head was too heavy to lift. He grunted his only method of communication. The darkness beyond the metal bars seemed to far a distance to see and his vision blurred again until he heard something rattling, coming closer. 

The sound was almost upon him when a cold voice rained into his mind. 

"You'll never escape here, you know?"

The voice was dark, deep and menacing. The edge of the tone was spiked a deathly poison that slithered on the words, speaking as though he were a snake coiled in waiting for it's pray. 

Aramis tried to speak but couldn't. Instead, he tried to push himself up off the floor. His limbs were stiff from the nights and days of being holed up in the cage; he couldn't even stand to his full height in the small cramped space. Pushing himself off the ground, Aramis looked at the ground that was underneath him. A metal floor covered in moisture. 

"Rotting in your own filth," the voice said. "How very like Bhaal Spawn."

"Wha…" Aramis tried to make sounds but his mouth couldn't form any words except the faint mewing that was escaping his throat.

"Can't speak?" the voice chuckled. "Shame. I'd rather like to have the witty banter match with you now. 'Tis a pity I must kill you before we do so."  


Aramis shook his head, as much as he could so. As the voice laughed, he could feel his eyes closing slowly and his mind collapsing. He didn't feel alive anymore, stuck inside the cell like a caged animal. 

"I would have you dead sooner," the voice said. "But my Master feels it too 'lenient' to let you off lightly, after all you put his people through."  


"H…pe…" Aramis tried but again, the faint mewing was all that escaped his lips. 

"Rest yourself, tired one," this time it wasn't the menacing voice but the soft and sweet tone of Aerie's melodic voice drifting to his ears.

Aramis thought that it must be an illusion. Her voice was soothing his mind, giving him the urge to continue to fight against them but also lapsing him into a sleep that he knew he couldn't wake from unless bid to by his captors. 

"Calm yourself, my love," Aerie's voice said. "I love you, Aramis. Don't fight it, just give in. It will be much safer if you just give in."

His head was spinning. He could hear her voice; he could smell her violet scent from his cage. Oh, how he loved that smell of violet, lilies, lavender and rosemary all together to form Aerie. The scent drifted to him and filled him with longing for the woman he loved, to escape his cage and finally be free from his captors. Whoever they may be. 

"Shh," Aerie's voice spoke melodically. "Sleep, Aramis."

"N…n…" Aramis tried to lift himself again, his arms weak from malnutrition. His voice was barely managing a faint rasp. "No…no…you…Aerie…no…"

There was movement and Aramis could see a pair of shoes moving, shuffling around on the outside of his cage. 

"He's stronger than we thought," another voice said, this one more feminine. "His will…he is resilient. I don't think we can sway him."  


"His mind isn't strong anymore, Lydia," the first voice said, sternly. "He can barely manage a sentence, what is the likely hood of him holding an attack against us? We will break him with time."

"It is time, Ahyan, that we do not have," Lydia said. "Just remember that while you try to crack his mind. It is a futile effort, one which you undoubtedly fail in."  


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